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By Doug Rainey

By Doug Rainey

Delaware airline Avelo posts profit in 4th quarter

Avelo Airlines moved into the black in the fourth quarter. The 16-jet privately-held carrier did not provide a specific number but issued the following; In 2023, Avelo flew 2.3 million customers, generating $265 million in revenue – up 74% from 2022. Wilmington (ILG) accounted for about a quarter of a million customers. Avelo ended 2023 with...

My take: AstraZeneca’s quarter century in Delaware

The announcement that AstraZeneca will spend $300 million on a cancer cell therapy research and development site outside Washington, DC, came with a Wilmington dateline. That's because the UK-based pharmaceutical company has its US headquarters in Talleyville, just outside Wilmington. AZ is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, an occasion noted by CEO Sir Pascal Soriot in an upbeat year-end...

UD, facing a $20 million to $40 million budget gap, freezes hiring, halts pay reviews, curbs capital projects

The University of Delaware has taken steps to reduce costs, including staff hiring, a pay freeze, and curbs on capital spending as it deals with a budget shortfall. "Recently, however, despite meeting our enrollment targets for FY24, further increases in scholarship needs and education delivery costs, especially escalating health care expenditures, have accelerated budget pressures," UD President Dennis Assanis wrote...

Our Top 25 stories in 2023

Posts on South American burglary gangs hitting northern Delaware, the new Great Wolf Lodge west of Newark and a Delaware company accused of operating a precious metals scam topped the list of most read stories on the Delaware Business Now site during 2023. The top 10 stories included a look at a failed urban renewal strategy that led to the...

Travel notes: American strikes back at Frontier’s Pittsburgh service; Avelo’s weakest routes

The Petreon site recently listed the weakest and strongest cities in the percentage of filled seats on airline routes as of September. When it came to Avelo, no Wilmington destinations had the highest load factors. It's worth noting that service from Delaware was launched less than a year ago and it takes time for some routes to catch on....

Analysis: Bloom Energy thins the herd in California

(Photo  of Bloom Newark site) Bloom Energy is trimming the size of its California staff, although the fuel cell maker appears to be hiring in Delaware. The company based in San Jose, CA indicated in California filings in the past couple of months that is is laying off 119 workers in all areas of the company.  In addition to its headquarters, Bloom...

Food and drink: Two quiet restaurant openings, Helen’s Sausage House and about that Wawa pizza

Taco Reho has opened its Middletown location with a minimum of fanfare. The Southern California-style taqueria used the formula that led to its first location on Coastal Highway in Rehoboth by rehabbing a fast food joint (Steak & Shake) and gaining a drive-up window. In Rehoboth, the owner overhauled a vacant Burger King. The concept was first launched...

Cold storage company chooses Claymont steel mill site

Georgia-based Agile Cold Storage has chosen Claymont as the location for a 275,000-square-foot cold-storage facility, with the Delaware Council on Development Finance endorsing a request for $4.56 million in grants. The project will create 130 new jobs and will add up to an investment of more than $170 million over two phases during the next five years. Agile Cold specializes in blast...

State formally announces Troon as 2024 operator of its two golf courses

The new operator of the state's two golf courses is putting a priority on retaining staff from the former management firm slated to exit at the end of the year. The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control formally announced last week that the DNREC Division of Parks and Recreation partnered with Troon St. James, LLC to manage operations of the Deerfield...

My take: A slower summer in Coastal Sussex?

A follow-up to a previous column on what appears to be a slightly slower summer in Coastal Sussex County. Coverage of the tourism outlook downstate has led to a debate of sorts in Sussex County on the size of the downturn or whether it actually took place. Delmarva TV stations highlighted what some merchants viewed as slower conditions, with...

My take: Remembering Yellow and its orange trucks as bankruptcy case heads to Delaware

I have long been fascinated by the rough-and-tumble trucking industry. It goes back to my childhood when Time, Leeway, Transcon, Hopper, and Thunderbird big rigs would roll through town and stop for dinner. By contrast, our local hauler was widely known as Alabam. By that time, Alabam had merged into a host of other carriers with its most notable feature...

How we rank: Energy & used car costs; Wawa left off top 10 list

Despite ongoing criticism of high electricity costs, Delaware ranks 33rd in total energy bills, according to the WalletHub financial advice site. Delaware's ranking is aided by low gasoline costs aided and one of the nation's lower gas taxes. In other categories, such as electricity and natural gas costs, Delaware ranks in the middle of the pack among the 50 states. Interestingly...

My take: Sausage making in Dover

The adage about law-making and sausage-making (you don't want to see either up close) proved true last week as the Delaware General Assembly drew to a close.  House Republicans decided to play the last card in their deck after reportedly making a deal with majority Democrats on passing a bill that allows out-of-town property entities to vote in Seaford municipal...

My take: Delaware Park’s casino makeover

The grandstand gaming area at Delaware Park has sometimes been called "the bus station" for a look that reminds one of the temporary sites set up in U.S. cities before the construction of glittering new gaming arenas. It's a legacy of the Rickman family, the former owners of the casino track. Delaware Park was a money-making machine when the General...

Coons not happy with renewable fuel standard seen as threat to future of Delaware City refinery

U.S. Senator Chris Coons took aim at the Environmental Protection Agency's final Renewable Fuel Standard rule that threatens the future of smaller refineries in the Mid-Atlantic. “I am disappointed by the final RFS rule issued today by the EPA, which does not adequately address the challenges and high costs it will bring to small refineries like the Delaware City Refinery...
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